June 25

Harper's

Rainbow Eyes dropped us off back on the trail this afternoon.  Apache and I started right where we had left off just south of town at Keys Gap.  We had about 6 miles or so to make it to Harper's Ferry, WVa.  The  terrain wasn't too bad.  Mostly flat, then a down into town.  Apache was slowed by some cramping in his calves.  His new shoes aren't fitting right and causing him some issues, but he's got a new-new pair waiting at the post office.  We crossed the Shenandoah River and stopped for a second at Jefferson Rock.  There was a plaque there that had a quote from Thomas Jefferson, saying that he thought that the view in Harper's Ferry of the Shenandoah running out of the mountains and joining the Potomac River was worth a trip across the Atlantic.  The trail actually runs right through the historic district of town.  It was like being back in college at William and Mary.  We poked around the streets, peering into the colonial buildings, root cellars, and spring houses.  Snapped photos of historic churches.  All that touristy type stuff.  Then we made our way up to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy headquarters.  Signed in on the register there.  I was hiker number 670 for this year.  More have made it this far, just not signed in.  There was an old Katahdin sign in the lobby that they had on display.  Pretty cool to see.  I got my obligatory polariod picture taken for the ATC's photo album.  We met up with the rest of the group at the ATC parking lot, since they had all gotten dropped off in town earlier and were waiting on Apache and I.  Although Harper's isn't quite half way to Katahdin, it is often referred to as the 'psychological' half way point for the trail.  What ever it is, it feels pretty great to have made it this far.  It's taken a little longer to get here than I originally thought, but I have taken a lot of zeros so far.  No worries.  It's been fun for sure, and there's plenty of time to get to Maine.  Slims, Apache, and I hung out at an ice cream shop until dark, talking it up with the girls working there.  They had some sort of sales quota they were trying to reach and were trying to convince us to buy more ice cream.  Crafty females.  We eventually caved and got them their last $15 they needed.  With it now being dark out, and with no real plan as to where to stay tonight, we walked across the street to the train station.  We thought about sleeping in the lobby there, but the building was locked.  Guess they're on to hikers, haha.  So we got back on the trail, our lamps strapped up, and proceeded across the bridge that crossed the Potomac River, and stepped foot into Maryland.  Bam!  One more state down.  Yeh, West Virginia is pretty short.  We night hiked along the C&O canal towpath for about 3 miles or so.  Camping is illegal in this particular area, so we did the right thing and kept moving.  As soon as we got out of that area, we crossed under a highway, and stealth camped in the woods.  We were really close to the road.  Headlights shone through the trees all night, and it was really noisy.  I slept pretty well in my hammock though.

Orion - #670 at the ATC in Harper's Ferry WVa